The definition of strange
by roxyfire57
Summary: Vegeta has a point. The world of DBZ Earth is just too damn confusing. Set in 'those three years', also relating to the growing relationship between Vegeta and Bulma. New cover added! Drew it myself :D
1. Chapter 1

**Tomorrow I have my language papers, wish me luck! Wanted to post this after looking at an Instagram meme. Anyways, hope you enjoy it! **

"So... let me get this straight."

Bulma raises an eyebrow at the normally stoic saiyan prince, who was completely out of character. For one, he had decided to leave his habitat known as the gravity room, for another his emotionless façade was now replaced by a genuinely confused look as he gazed at the news channel on the television.

"Almost half of Earth's population are animals that are capable of speech and work, yet the majority of the other creatures of the same species are seemingly mindless pets sitting at home waiting to be coddled. There are demons and monsters living in the woods and roaming around unsupervised. The Earth's 'king', is a talking dog. There are dinosaurs all over the place even though according to historical records, they have supposedly been extinct for millions of years until one day they magically reappeared. People who have died as a result of explosions and fights have somehow been resurrected, and continue living their monotonous lives without questioning their existence. Amazing feats of strength and destruction have been displayed by Kakarot and his foolish comrades during the past tournaments, and after witnessing them collapse from fatal injuries they find it normal when they jump up unharmed to continue the battle after consuming a tiny green bean."

Bulma sipped her coffee, amused.

"But you earthlings have followed me, tracked me down, spied on me, publicized this little incident all over the news and made a big deal out of this ridiculous thing, just because they saw me flying?!"

Bulma set her mug down, a smile playing at her lips.

"Yes."

Vegeta threw his hands up in frustration, desperation in his eyes, as he stormed up towards his room, the gravity room being off limits due to the reporters swarming around the ship.


	2. Chapter 2

**Another dbz mystery I'm constantly wondering about. Please Review!**

Vegeta stormed into the lab, towards the desk where Bulma sat.

"I know, I know. Your new training bots will be ready soon, okay? Just give me an hour." Bulma called out, not bothering to turn around.

The saiyan snorted and shoved a book in front of her face.

Bulma blinked. "Is that a history book?"

"No! Look at this!" Vegeta snarled and pointed towards a picture. Bulma took the book from his hands and started scanning through the pages, observing the various pictures.

"Why would you humans replace an object of obviously better quality with one bulkier item that doesn't work as well? Does evolution run backwards on Earth?! The slimmer design is the better one, yet you earthlings replaced it with the smaller yet heavier device! That's like choosing a 1900s computer to a laptop! Wait... that's exactly what you humans did in this case! Your planet-its so confusing!"

Bulma blinked. She didn't know what shocked her more-the fact that Vegeta read books, or the fact that he made sense.

"Oh I don't know. There must be some fault with the design or something."

Vegeta rolled his eyes. "Tch, you humans are ridiculous. I expect the training droids in an hour. That annoying paparazzi took up a lot of training time."

Bulma watched him stalk out of her lab with the history book, then shrugged. After all, there must be a reason they stopped making flat screen TVs, right?


	3. Chapter 3

**The more I think about it, the more I am confused, like poor Vegeta here. Some more questions to think about:) Wish me luck for my math paper tomorrow!**

"What is he?"

Bulma turned over too look at Vegeta, taking off her sunglasses. "What?"

The saiyan prince, who had taken a break from his all out training sessions since destroyed the gravity chamber after pushing it too hard, had -in a very rare, once in a lifetime occasion- joined Bulma in sunbathing (or as Vegeta put it, increasing his heat tolerance in case of future fights in the desert).

"You know, him. Three eyes."

Bulma cocked an eyebrow. "Tien?"

"Whatever," Vegeta snorted. "He seems to pass off as a human, as evident in his Ki level and pattern, but he has three eyes. Is it some form of genetic mutation or the horrible result of a failed science experiment? That... thing on his forehead is clearly attached to his body as an organ, but none of you humans possess a third eye. Unless he artificially attached that thing onto his forehead, which is highly unlikely, what exactly is he? Is he a human or not?"

"Hm, I never really thought of that, I guess," Bulma chewed the edge of her sunglasses, lying back down and closing her eyes. She let out a sigh of contentment feeling the Sun's rays warm her skin. "After all, he is a friend of mine. It never really mattered to me that he had a third eye, as long as he was on our side. I mean, back then I didn't really wonder much more about Goku's tail-it was just there, and after a while I got used to it. Well, except the times that he would turn into a were-ape."

"Oozaru," Vegeta corrected, crossing his arms and he stared up into the blue sky. It was his favorite color, more specifically dark royal blue, but he realized he quite enjoyed... lighter shades as well. He turned his head slightly to the right to see Bulma's long aqua tresses flowing down the curves of her body, framing her angelic face and complementing her milky skin, and-he mentally slapped himself.

"Then how about the bald one?" He asked, trying to get his mind of... certain things. It was no help that she was scantily clad in a bikini, in the deck chair beside him.

Bulma flipped over, lying on her stomach so her back could get a tan. "Krillen?"

Vegeta nodded, although he knew Bulma could not see it. "His nose. It's... absent."

She giggled. "Heh, I asked him about that before, but he said he didn't really have a clue. I guess it's the same reason why Tien had a third eye, I guess. He's human though. And how he manages to breathe is still a mystery."

"Hn." Vegeta closed his eyes, somewhat enjoying his 'break' with the woman. "The midget, then."

Bulma cracked open an eye to see Vegeta in a relaxed position, his hands behind his head, and managed a small smile. Midget? He didn't mean Krillen... She was used to having people refer to her bald friend as the midget in their odd group, but Vegeta was talking about someone else... who could be smaller than Krillen? Hmm... Aha!

"Chaiotzu?"

Vegeta grunted, which Bulma recognized as an affirmative. She had learnt to read the saiyan prince's various noises and their meanings over the year when he expressed his thoughts using nothing more than simple sounds.

"He used to be an emperor, actually. I guess he's human too. I suppose he uses a lot of makeup or something... that's probably why he looks so pale all the time, and with ridiculously red cheeks. He also knows telekinesis. But that seems normal to me, when you have tons of friends flying and shooting Ki balls out of their palms without breaking a sweat. "

"Does he not undergo puberty?"

"What?" Bulma flipped over again.

"That... Chaotue. According to you, you have known him from ten years ago, and he still looks and sound the same. Considering he was an adolescent back then, shouldn't he have matured by now? Why is his stature so tiny, and his voice so insanely squeaky? Is he fated to stay a child forever?"

Bulma blinked. "I have no idea."

"And," Vegeta rolled to his side to face her, his mind full of boggling questions. "what about that lecherous old man? How old is he? As far as I can tell, he lived many times beyond the life expectancies of many humans and is still active. That is not natural, no?"

"He mentioned something about taking an immortality pill back then..." Bulma tapped her chin with a finger.

Vegeta didn't seem to mind the prospect of gaining immortality anymore, he had just needed it to defeat Frieza before. Now that the tyrant was dead, the idea of eternal life was quite unappealing, especially when he didn't have anything to rule over. Vegeta wasn't sure if he could handle being the last saiyan for eternity.

"Tch, then about that talking pig and floating cat."

"Oolong and Pu'ar are both shapeshifting animals. I don't know why they can talk. Or shapeshift." Bulma sighed. "In fact, I don't even know why Pu'ar can float."

Vegeta nodded. "The pig. Why does he take... special interest in human females, and not females of his own species?"

"Um..." Bulma racked her head for a logical explanation. "They don't have... talking girl pigs?"

At this, Vegeta shot her a confused look. "The pig can communicate with humans, but not with his own species?"

Bulma threw her hands up in exasperation. "Oh gosh, Vegeta, you ask too much!"

She sighed, "I don't know... I never though to question thing like this before. They just were, you know. It seemed natural, so we just let it be. Haven't you asked yourself why your hair stands up straight like that?"

Vegeta thought for a while. "No," he admitted.

Bulma giggled. She found it cute when Vegeta looked genuinely confused, as he had frequently over the past month.

"Oh well, I'm going inside to get a drink. You coming?"

Vegeta shrugged and stood up, following Bulma into Capsule Corporation.


	4. Chapter 4

**Not that much entertaining as the last two. Is it just me, or does anyone else wonder how Kami's lookout came to be? (RHYMEE)**

The last he saw, the saiyan prince and his girlfriend were about to lunge at each other's throats just being in the same room, and it took all his effort to calm Bulma down so she would not yell at and get blasted by her temperamental and super-strong house guest.

So it was quite a shock, really, to see them engaging in a very engrossing discussion so much that neither of them, not even Vegeta, had noticed he had arrived for the past five minutes, and the poor human stood there listening in.

"-you mean you never, not even once, wondered about who built it?" Vegeta's voice was, oddly, non-threatening and he might dare say, curious.

"Oh come on Vegeta. It was just there. I figured that Kami made it or something."

"...but how does it even balance itself? That thing is huge and heavy, yet it's weight is entirely centered on that pole thing... It doesn't even topple when extra weight lands on it."

"Um... Given that Kami can control Earth's forces, I guess he just controls the air density around the lookout so it remains stable..."

Vegeta thought for a while.

"How did that namekian land on Earth anyhow?"

"Well, Mr Popo told me this story before," Bulma runs a hand through her hair, "Kami was sent in a spaceship from planet Namek because there was some disease spreading, and they wanted to keep him alive. This explains why there are so few namekians now... well, not counting the fact that a certain SOMEONE slaughtered an entire village that wasn't brought back."

At this Vegeta shoots the heiress a large mischievous grin, playfully baring his fangs. Yamcha tensed.

Bulma smiled at the saiyan, making her boyfriend from the shadows frown. "Gee Vegeta, you are so full of questions lately."

The saiyan prince shrugged. "Your planet is unlike any other I have visited."

Bulma grinned. "So you like it here?"

"Well," Vegeta blushed slightly, trying to amend his mistake, "I have never stayed long enough on other planets to observe their culture."

She ignored that comment. "You must have seen some pretty weird stuff out there, huh?"

Vegeta opened his mouth to reply, but then looked up and glared at the dark silhouette in the shadows, the first time noticing the other presence.

"Yamcha!" Bulma turned around and flew into her boyfriend's arms, and behind her Vegeta growled and glared coldly at the ex-bandit.

"How long have you been standing there?"

"Don't worry babe, I just got here."

"I'm going to train," Vegeta snapped, standing up and stalking angrily from the table, leaving the couple staring quizzically at his retreating back.


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello all! Okay, as much as I admit DBZ has so many messes up stuff, most of them are from after 'those three years' when Veggie had already gotten used to Earth. Anyone have any ideas and/or questions that I can use here? Thanks, R&amp;R! **

"What was that all about?"

Bulma turned around, a questioning eyebrow raised. "What?"

"You and Vegeta." Yamcha took a sip of the coffee that his girlfriend had set in a mug in front of him.

"He was asking me questions."

"Since when," the ex-bandit tapped his chin, "does Vegeta ask questions?"

The heiress smiled. "Well, since he got caught on camera flying. You went to the desert to train, so I doubt you have seen it..."

Yamcha frowned. "Idon't like the idea of the twp of you spending so much time together."

Bulma opened her mouth to reply, but then stopped as she heard a door slam. Vegeta stalked into the room and gave her a ghost of a smile. But when his eyes fell on Yamcha he gave the human a low growl.

If Bulma had heard Vegeta's growl, she didn't show it. "Hey, would you like to join us? Lunch would be ready soon, so there's no point in going back to train or anything."

The saiyan gave Yamcha a dark look, but sat down at the table anyways.

And in a completely unbelievable and unpredictable gesture, Vegeta swiped the newspaper off the table and flipped it open.

Yamcha couldn't tell what was worse-Vegeta reading the news, or Bulma acting like it was perfectly normal behavior and joining him.

"Heh, look at this guy. He's wearing a straw hat and a business suit! Why would anyone do that?" Bulma pointed out a picture.

"Tch, hn," Vegeta agreed.

"This man," he gestured to another photo, "why does he possess the head of a dog yet the body of a human? From your historical records, he would have been deemed a mythical creature, such as a Griffin or a Minatour."

Yamcha blinked. Vegeta read history books?

"And," the saiyan continued bewildered, "why does his 'pet', of most notably the same species as he, have the normal body of a dog instead, and inferior intelligence?"

Bulma giggled. "Maybe the dog is just pretending to be dumb. I mean, as a pet, it can be taken care of, get food and a nice comfy home without working. If it reveals it's superior intelligence, it might have to go get a job!"

"Just like a certain someone I know, eh?" The blue-haired scientist nudged Vegeta.

"Woman, I am more than capable of providing for myself. It would just be rude if I didn't accept your... offer of residence since you were pratically begging me to come over." Vegeta smirked.

"You wouldn't know manners if it bit you in the ass!" Bulma retorted.

Yamcha blinked again. Were they...flirting?! While he was sitting there?!

He coughed.

"Another scandal? Can't these celebrities get a break? Of course, I'm a celebrity, but I'd never do that! Eww..." Bulma fake-gagged.

Yamcha rapped his knuckles against the table.

"Why would humans cheat on their mate? In that case, why even get a mate? Aren't they for life?" Vegeta questioned.

"Well, humans have some sort of... pre-mating thing called dating. It's like... sort of a trial mate thing temporarily. Well, if it works out, then they would decide to get married, or mate as you saiyans call it." Bulma explained.

"Um... Bulma babe?"

Bulma turned around to face Yamcha, and blinked in surprise as if she had forgotten that Yamcha had been there all these while. "Oh hey Yamcha. Anything you need?"

Yamcha's jaw dropped. "Anything I need? You forgot I was here!"

"No I didn't," Bulma replied, slightly guilty. Behind her, Vegeta stuck his tongue out at the ex-bandit.

The human's eyes bugged out and pointed an accusing finger at the saiyan prince, but Bulma saw that he had returned to the paper, and gave her boyfriend a questioning look.


	6. Chapter 6

**This time, Bulma has some questions. Thank you NinjaWhisper for your idea! I also added a new cover, i drew it myself. Let me know what you think! :)**

"'Geta?" Bulma stirred the hot coffee in her cup with a spoon as she watched the saiyan inhale the spread of food her mother had oh-so graciously prepared for "the young and strong handsome mr. Vegeta -oh what am I saying? i'm a married woman!"

The saiyan paused from his eating, reaching out for a napkin to wipe the edges of his mouth before glancing at Bulma questioningly. The heiress cracked a smile-Vegeta, although with an appetite as big as Goku's, had much better manners than the younger saiyan.

"What?" He asked gruffly, not appreciating the fact she had interrupted his meal.

"I was thinking... how come you can speak english so fluently? Do they speak that language in outer space too?"

"Scouter," Vegeta muttered, tapping his left ear before shoving several strips of bacon into his mouth.

"Then..." Bulma rubbed her chin, "how come the namekians back on Planet Namek could speak english too? They don't have scouters."

Vegeta looked up and thought for a while.

Bulma continued, "and the other aliens too. Like the inhabitants of the planet Goku crash-landed on after Namek's explosion... Is english some sort of universal language or something?"

Vegeta furrowed his brows as he concentrated. "Each race has it's own language, but there is a universal tongue that everyone understands. However... it is not english, but the Galatic-Standard, which is not at all similar."

Bulma pouted. "That doesn't answer my question. How could everyone we meet speak our language?"

The saiyan shrugged. "How should I know?"

The heiress took a small bite out of her apple and sighed.

Vegeta stared at her pointedly. "Is that all you're eating, woman?"

Bulma nodded. "Vegeta, I'm on a diet."

The saiyan frowned. Why one would starve themselves on purpose, for the sake of losing a few pounds, was beyond him. Back on Frieza's base he could hardly get enough food weekly to sustain a rat, and here this woman was ignoring three full meals a day. She could starve! Wait... why did he care? He didn't. The woman was annoying and her only use was fixing the gravity room. If she died out of hunger, it wouldn't affect him in any way, right? Of course. Yet...He sighed and pushed a plate of eggrolls towards Bulma. "Eat," he commanded.

She opened her mouth to protest, but seeing the insistent look on the saiyan's face she popped an eggroll into her mouth and chewed slowly. Vegeta nodded slightly, pleased, and continued eating.

Bulma thought for a while-there was one question she had been wondering about since she found out Goku was a saiyan-after the initial excitement had died out, of course, and she wanted to share it with Vegeta to see if it made sense. After all, he was bound to know more than she did on this subject, right?

"Hey, do you think we have a common ancestor?"

Vegeta choked on his noodles. "What?!"

"Humans and saiyans." Bulma looked up thoughtfully. "I mean, we have to be genetically similar to quite a large extent to be able to procreate, as evident by Gohan. Our races also share a lot of physical differences, aside from the tail of course. Goku was able to blend in as a human without it-Chi Chi told me the doctors never said that anything was out of the ordinary with him."

"That," Vegeta stated, "would be highly improbable. Your theory makes sense, but we live on entirely different planets." He, however, sounded doubtful.

"Oh come on, just think," Bulma perked up, "how can two races from different planets at opposite ends of the galaxy, have such a similar genetic makeup?"

Vegeta bit his lip. "Um... luck?"

Bulma laughed. "Luck? Really Vegeta. That's like saying thet kid from the future is your son!" **(A/N: BWAHAHAHA)**

Vegeta shuddered. That possibility, as much as he hated to admit it, was not as far as he liked it to be. That future kid could turn into a super saiyan, which means he must have had saiyan blood. Of course, he could be a descendant of Kakarot, but his hair...

"Anyways, saiyans and humans must have been related some point or another. Maybe long ago, some saiyans crash landed on Earth or sonething and because of the docile environment here, lost their ki abilities or something. I dunno, it seems a lot more likely than just pure chance." Bulma blabbed.

The saiyan prince shrugged. "Woman, you talk too much."

Bulma stuck out her tongue. "Get used to it."

Vegeta poked her in the stomach. "I don't get this... diet thing."

Bulma placed her hand over her mouth to keep fron giggling as Vegeta poked her again. "St-stop that."

He raised an eyebrow, and with a mischievous smirk, continued to poke her. Bulma squirmed in her seat trying to wriggle her way out but the saiyan grabbed her by the waist and tickled her ribs.

"Geta, st-stop th-haha oh gosh VegeTA!" Bulma squealed and almost fell off her chair, but Vegeta caught her midfall.

He lifted her up back onto her chair, but neither let go of each other. Their faces were close, noses almost touching, and Bulma felt a heated blush come up to her face. She opened her mouth to say something, was cut off by a knock on the door.

"I'll... go get it," she says, suddenly breathless, and Vegeta nods and reluctantly releases her.


	7. Chapter 7

**Merry Christmas, Mortals!**

**We had a really late Xmas celebration party so I was too tired to post yesterday... hehe. My Uncle kept playing God songs and we spent all night listening to some guy sing "Jesus oh Jesus". R&amp;R!**

"WOMAN! WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!"

Bulma took a nylon string out of her mouth to tie a glittering red ball to the door frame. "WHAT?!" She yelled back, slightly irritated. Her parents-more specifically, her mother, had went Christmas shopping and she was given the pressurizing role of decorating the house. The tree-undoubtedly the easiest task, her mother insisted, was to be decorated as a family, which left her this meaningless job-stringing coloured balls from the ceiling so her tall guests-or perhaps short guests with unnaturally tall spikey hair, could hit their heads against the dangling ornaments.

Perhaps that was what irked the little prince today. Then again, Bulma had only just started the living room and had not gotten to the GR yet, where she was sure Vegeta was heading towards...

...then again, this also meant her mother could have done something to it without her knowledge. Said person stormed in. "Woman! What did you do to the gravity room?!"

Bulma shrugged. "Nothing."

Vegeta grabbed the shiny ball out of her hands and shoved it in front of her face. "This! It's covered every inch of my GR!"

She stifled a giggle at the saiyan's frustrated and confused face. "They're Christmas decorations, Vegeta. And my mum probably left them, not me."

Still, te saiyan prince's glare did not subside. Bulma rolled her eyes, "it's not hazardous, Vegeta. They just make the house look pretty."

"Ridiculous... useless Earth.. things," the saiyan muttered.

Bulma giggled. Vegeta was always amusing, angry or not. "It's to celebrate a holiday called Christmas."

The saiyan glanced towards the pine tree in the middle of the room questioningly. "Is there a reason why a plant is in the room?"

Bulma nodded. "It's tradition to leave presents under the Christmas tree. But we haven't decorated it yet."

The saiyan said nothing, but glared at the offending tree with a look that would have withered a lesser tree-but alas pines were quite hardy plants.

"Can I... have the ball back?" Bulma asked.

Vegeta growled and examined the ornament in his fist. "This is... what is this?!"

At this point Bulma abandoned her initial job and stalked over to Vegeta. She glanced at the red ball over his shoulder and giggled. "That is Santa Claus, 'Geta."

The prince growled softly at the nickname, but his curiosity took over. "Santa?"

"Yup. He watched you to see if you're naughty or nice, and on Christmas eve he comes into our houses through the chimney and eats the cookies and milk we lay out for him, and later on he leaves presents under the tree."

Vegeta stiffened at the thought of an intruder.

Bulma caught his look. "Woah there, chill. Santa's just a fairytale. He's not real."

Vegeta relaxed and raised an eyebrow in amusement. "You mean to tell me you humans worship some imaginary fat man in red that stalks and watches you, breaks into your house and invades your privacy, eats your food, just because he leaves you presents?"

Bulma opened her mouth to retort, but broke into a fit of laughter. She had never really thought of it that way before-and the way he put it did seem ridiculous and pointless. Anyways Vegeta had a point.

"Yea, I guess so... I mean I never thought of it that way before..." She imagined Santa in a dark suit with lock picking tools robbing cookies, and giggled.

Vegeta raised an eyebrow. "How is it you humans can come up with the silliest of traditions?"

"Well, Vegeta, then I guess you wouldn't want to hear another one of our "silly" traditions..." Bulma let her voice trail off meaningfully as she glanced above her head, to see the both of them standing under a very familiar plant.

"Oh? Why is that," Vegeta raised an eyebrow.

"Well, we hang up these little plants called mistletoe all over the house, and when two people are caught underneath it at the same time they kiss. It could be just a peck on the cheek of lips between friends and family, or something more... passionate."

Vegeta chuckled. "That's silly. What does this... mistletoe look like?"

For some unknown reason Bulma blushed, and looked above her. "Like that."

Vegeta looked up and, realizing what she meant, turned crimson.

In a move she didn't expect, Vegeta grabbed her by the arm and pulled her towards him, crushing his lips on hers. Bulma's eyes widened in shock but kissed back almost eagerly, unsure of her own actions. Vegeta kissed with rough passion but his lips were soft and sweet, and Bulma sank into his embrace, forgetting all about a certain someone a.k.a. her boyfriend... (Uh Oh)

They broke apart after the longest -and admittedly the best- ten seconds of Vegeta's life, both flushed crimson. Bulma retreated upstairs and Vegeta locked himself in the gravity room to cool down-just before Mr. and Mrs. Briefs entered the room and, to Bunny's dismay, found everything undecorated.


	8. Chapter 8

**Hey peeps! Sorry for late update. Busy busy busy! Homework... sigh. R&amp;R!**

"..."

He hated being caught speechless like this. But really-it was getting increasingly common.

"-but really, what is wrong with that woman?!"

"There's nothing wrong with Chi Chi, Vegeta," Bulma patted his shoulder, "she just wants the best for Gohan, that's all."

"But which human, idiot or not, would put studies in front of the fate of the world?" Vegeta continued his pushups, although they were not as fast as when he was training alone.

Bulma rested her palms on his shoulders to steady herself on Vegeta's back as he continued to work out on the lawn. "Okay, I admit she doesn't have her priorities straight. But I'm sure Chi Chi doesn't want Gohan to turn out like his father, if you know what I mean."

Vegeta snorted, "Kakarot's an idiot," he agreed.

"Why don't you like Chi Chi?" Bulma asked, shifting her position on Vegeta's bare back, which was slick with sweat. Strangely, she didn't find it disgusting, like she would with Yamcha.

"She's a harpy," Vegeta grimaced, "she screeches like a banshee and isn't even attractive."

Bulma laughed, "She is rather loud."

"How do those green beans work?" Vegeta asked.

"Hm? The senzu beans?"

Vegeta switched to a single arm pushup, making Bulma wobble a bit on his back, and she laughed. "Woah steady there, I don't think I can hold on."

He smirked, and continued.

"Well," Bulma started, finding a comfortable stop, "I'm not exactly sure. Korin-that's the talking cat that grew the beans, never explained it to me. I guess it's because of magic, or something."

Yamcha coughed.

Bulma looked up and waved, "Hey Yam!"

At this, Vegeta paused mid push up, but rolled over just in time for Bulma to land on his chest gently. "Oof!"

Yamcha frowned, seeing the compromising position the saiyan was in with his girlfriend. "Hey, what'cha doing?"

"The gravity machine broke down again, because a certain someone overheated it," she slapped the saiyan's chest playfully, "and the parts don't arrive until tomorrow so I'm giving Vegeta extra weight to train on. It works his balance too."

Yamcha glared at the prince, who glared back, and the human warily took a step back. "So... I was wondering if you would like to go out with me today, B." he desperately wanted to get her away from that... monster.

"Sure!" The heiress hopped from Vegeta's chest eagerly, "I'll just go get changed."

For a moment, he thought he saw hurt and disappointment flash through Vegeta's eyes, but Yamcha brushed that off.

**Hey, any ideas?**


	9. Chapter 9

**Heh. I got inspired. Thank you to Warm hugs, for the suggestion of the second part to the previous chapter! And especially to the guest reviewer from chapter 4!**

**To I3 Vegeta: Heh, you make a good point there actually. You would think people would get used to seeing flying men, but like Mr Satan says, "It's all parlor tricks! Light shows!" I'm not sure why the never investigated the other Z-warriors, though-maybe because Krillin lives far out on a tiny island? The paparazzi probably followed Vegeta back to Capsule Corp or something. As for the too overly smart Bulma thing, I just needed something to start the story with :) She is a skilled scientist, after all, and this is the Dragonball universe(and like what this story is trying to say, nothing makes sense in DBZ!). Of course, no one can be that intelligent in real life. And it's not negative feedback, lol. It's called, constructive criticism. Everybody has the right to like or dislike a story, after all-besides, questions are always welcome:) It helps me improve.**

"Have you ever wondered why Turtle can talk?"

Yamcha looked up from the menu. "Huh?"

"You know," Bulma tapped her well manicured nails on the table, "and why Baba can go to the Otherworld. It's kinda strange, isn't it?"

"B-" the ex-bandit started, but was cut off.

"-And I wonder how old Master Roshi actually is... I mean, when did he take that immortally pill? It could have been a thousand years ago, before the Revolution, or-"

"Bulma. I'm starving. Can we order?" Yamcha asked, wondering why she was so full of questions.

"Oh yea, sure! I'm hungry too, and-Oh my god!" Bulma gasped.

Yamcha's eyes widened in shock. "What's wrong? Are you hurt?"

"I just realized! Vegeta probably can't cook, and there's no one at home to do it for him! Oh gosh, what if he starves with his impossibly large appetite?"

The dark haired man rolled his eyes. _Seriously?_ "Look, I'm sure he's fine."

Bulma blinked, "I suppose he is," and Yamcha was about to heave a sigh of relief when she whipped out her phone. "Still, better get someone to deliver takeout to Capsule Corp. Oh, and I'll just have whatever you're having," she said.

Yamcha placed their orders and drummed his fingers on the table impatiently, waiting for Bulma to finish her call. He could empathize with the poor man on the other line, and could imagine the shocked look on his face. "Yes, put it on my tab," Bulma snapped, before flipping her phone shut.

"So," Bulma grinned, "now that that's taken care of, what did you order?"

As if on cue, the two plates of sirloin steak arrived, and Bulma licked her lips. "Wow. Nice."

Yamcha smiled, glad to have Vegeta out of their conversation-_wait, I probably just jinxed it. Damn._

And yes, he did.

"Did you know," Bulma said thoughtfully, "that Saiyans and Humans have a common ancestor?"

Yamcha spat out his drink, making several customers turn around to glare at them. He blushed. "What?"

"Well, Vegeta-" the ex-bandit narrowed his eyes at_ his_ name "-and I were talking about it. We figured that since Goku and Chi Chi could, well, create Gohan, our species must have a very similar genetic makeup. I mean, just think, Goku and I could be like, very very VERY very distant cousins or something!"

Yamcha nodded absently, his mind spinning with ways to get back at the saiyan prince for ruining their date. Indirectly, but still. _Does Vegeta play that big of a role in Bulma's life, that everything she says has to be related to him or something?!_

"Hello? Are you even listening?"

"Huh? Yea, that'd be great, babe," Yamcha stammered.

"I asked you if you were not hungry," Bulma frowned, gesturing to his untouched food.

"Oh," he muttered. "Yea, I lost my appetite thinking about the distant possibility about having Vegeta being related to us."

The blue-haired girl giggled, "oh come on, he's not that bad."

"Oh, says you. He treats you the best out of all of us." Yamcha muttered bitterly, obvious jealously in her tone.

"Oh come on Yam," Bulma waved her hands in the air, "he probably just tolerates me a lot more than you guys because I fix his playthings."

Yamcha remembered the hurt look Vegeta flashed the heiress just before they left, and seriously doubted that was the case.


	10. Chapter 10

**I would love to thank Warm Hugs and NinjaWhisper for this idea!**

"Vegeta! We're back!"

Bulma called out, throwing her handbag onto the couch and looking around. She spotted several empty takeaway boxes left scattered on the table, but the saiyan prince was nowhere to be seen.

"Geez, he left quite a mess," Yamcha muttered, but Bulma paid him no mind, and continued to look around, "huh, where is he?"

"Does is matter?" the ex-bandit scoffed, "it's better if he leaves and never show his ugly mug here ever again, that arrogant asshole is just a worthless waste of space."

Bulma frowned and turned to berate her boyfriend, but someone beat her to it-"that's a lot of talk for someone who doesn't deserve the air they breathe."

A dark silhouette with flame shaped hair leaned against the doorway, and Bulma grinned, "Hey 'Geta."

Vegeta turned towards the scientist and nodded slightly, acknowledging her presence, before sneering at her companion.

Yamcha narrowed his eyes, "you haven't kicked him out yet? That's a shame."

"You haven't taken out the trash?" Vegeta stared at the glaring human, "that's a shame," he countered.

"Your just a stupid, cocky brute," Yamcha's eye's flashed angrily, "you'll never beat Goku, he'll always be the best."

Seeing no reaction, a smug Yamcha continued, "you're just the Prince in name only. You'll never be able to beat Goku, he'll always be better than you are. It's a good thing your planet blew up. You always talk about pride, but in fact, you have none-where's the honor in living in a 'backwater mud ball'," he mocked, "needing to rely on us 'weaklings' for your own training, and being the weakest saiyan in the entre universe?"

Vegeta visibly flinched, and Bulma gasped-it was a low blow. Even without the special powers her friends had, Bulma sensed Vegeta's power rising-the saiyan prince's aura danced around him and before she could stop him, the furious saiyan pounced on Yamcha.

Bulma let out a bloodcurdling scream, as her furniture erupted into flames around the duo, and she was sure she heard Yamcha cry out.

"Stop it! Both of you!" Her screams were drowned out by the roar of the fire and the unmistakable sound of bones snapping, coupled with screams of agony.

It was then a large pair of arms grabbed her from behind, and whisked her out of the house, and Bulma barely saw a flash of orange and green before she was deposited out the front yard.

The heiress blinked. "Gohan?"

The seven year old remained silent, standing in front of her as he used his ki to extinguish the flames of the burning house, and she could see the charred, blackened outer walls of the dome as smoke billowed from the windows. Bulma didn't even what to think about the state of her living room.

It was then Goku emerged from the doorway, a limp body over his shoulder, which Bulma immediately identified as her boyfriend. Vegeta appeared behind him, snarling at the wary namekian that followed, and he purposefully avoided Bulma's gaze.

Goku laid down the unconscious, barely breathing human and fed him a senzu bean, and moments later Yamcha jumped up with no evidence of the fight except for his scorched clothes and dried blood. The Earth saiyan stood up, fists clenched, "why did you do that, Vegeta?"

The saiyan prince looked up and met Goku's eyes, growling, "I don't have to explain anything to you, Kakarot," and his voice was venomous but unmistakably wounded.

Goku opened his mouth to retort, but Bulma stepped forth, "you jerk! You set my house on fire! What were you trying to prove, you idiot?!" she screeched, and everyone's eyes widened.

Yamcha, Goku and Gohan both stepped towards Bulma, each for a different reason-Goku ready to fight to defend his childhood friend, Gohan to get Bulma as far away as possible if things got ugly, and Yamcha preparing to calm his girlfriend before she infuriated her explosive houseguest.

Vegeta looked up into Bulma's deep blue eyes, and showed something like... shame? Hurt?

She softened at the look in his eyes, "oh you big idiot, just stick to destroying the GR, okay? You're going to help me clean up after this, you got that?"

The saiyan prince nodded, slightly baffled that she forgave him so easily.

"What? Babe, you're just going to let him off?" Yamcha demanded, "he almost killed me, and wrecked your house!"

"Well, that's because you said all those mean things to him!" Bulma poked her boyfriend in the chest, "his planet was blown up by the same person who took him as a..." the word 'slave' died at her throat, and she shot a sympathetic glance towards Vegeta who was staring at her in disbelief, no doubt trying to process her actions.

"Anyways you could have been a little more sensitive!"

Yamcha gaped, speechless, and Bulma turned to Vegeta again. "Next time, bring your fights outside. I don't want blood on the carpet and holes in the walls."

Vegeta smirked at her spunk. "Whatever woman."

Bulma grinned, "Thanks for saving me, you guys. Hey, how did you know they were in a fight?"

"Vegeta's and Yamcha's kis rose," Gohan answered automatically.

"We could have been training," Vegeta snapped sourly, not happy he didn't get to exact his full punishment on the scar-faced weakling.

"Well, Piccolo sensed it, right?" Goku turned towards his green friend, who huffed, "It was Kami who informed me of your fight," he begrudgingly admitted.

"How did Kami know?" Bulma raised an eyebrow.

"He saw it from the lookout!" Goku said cheerfully, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"He can see what's going on here all the way from up there?" Vegeta questioned, saying the one thing on Bulma's mind.

"Yea, I guess," the demi-saiyan nodded, "weird, huh."

Bulma thought for a while. "Hey, how come Kami is Kami?"

"What?"

"You know, shouldn't Earth's god be, well, an earthling? Why a Namekian?"

"Because," Piccolo answered plainly, "our race is far superior to your pathetic weak earthling race."

"Hey!" Yamcha protested.

"Well, it's true," Vegeta shrugged, "your race is one of the most pitiful I have seen."

Bulma smirked, "then I guess you can get some other 'less pitiful' race to build you your precious gravity machine, huh."

Vegeta opened his mouth to retort, but Bulma brushed past him and gave him a wink-an obvious sign she was teasing. "Come on, you have a lot to clean up, you know."

Yamcha wasn't sure which one was more surprising-Vegeta following the heiress without complaints, or the odd look Goku and Piccolo exchanged.


	11. Chapter 11

"Vegeta?"

The saiyan prince made no move to turn his head, but he could sense Bulma peering over at him a few feet where she lay.

"'Geta, come join me."

Sighing, as he knew there was no way out of this until he made a response, strode over and looked at the heiress, who was lying down in the grass.

"What are you doing?"

"Cloud watching," came the answer. Then, "Come on, join me." She patted the grass next to her and grinned at Vegeta, who rolled his eyes and sat down.

"Lie back," Bulma instructed, and Vegeta growled halfheartedly but did as she said, and put his arms behind his head. He glanced over at Bulma, who seemed engrossed in watching the blue sky, but nothing up there really seemed to catch his attention. Snarling softly he looked over at Bulma again, who was so enraptured in her 'could-watching' or whatever that was that she started giggling.

"What?"

"I'm cloud watching, Vegeta. Haven't you done that before?"

Numbly, the prince shook his head, and Bulma gasped, "oh my! You poor thing!"

Vegeta smirked and continued to study the clouds, until-

"See?" she pointed towards a particular puff drifting north, "that one looks like a dinosaur."

Vegeta followed her finger and blinked, yes-he suppoused it's shape somewhat resembled those large reptilian creatures.

"And that one looks like a ship."

He decided to humor her and join this little game, "and that looks like a fish."

Bulma grinned and pointed a few more animal shapes, while Vegeta made some grunts and occasional chuckles. She turned to study his features glinting against the sunlight, and for not the first time, realized that the saiyan was attractive.

Like, really, really attractive.

Vegeta turned to stare at Bulma once more, only to see her looking at him. He smirked, "what?"

Bulma blushed, "nothing."

Vegeta laughed inwardly. He'd always thought only he was constantly -yes, he begrudgingly admitted- checking her out, but it seemed she did the same.

"Do you know who clouds work?"

Vegeta smirked, "of course I do, woman. I'm not an imbecilie."

"It doesn't snow at our part of Japan," Bulma murmured dreamily, "but it does in the northern regions. I went there once-it was amazing."

"I should take you there sometime. It's amazing," she repeated, "you'll like it. Have you seen snow before?"

"It snowed constantly on Frieza's home planet," Vegeta answered, "as well as several planets I've been to."

Bulma grinned, "huh. So snow isn't just an Earth thing?"

"Of course not, idiot woman," Vegeta scoffed, "where would you get that idea from? Of course, because of the varying degrees of temperature, pressure, composition and gravity, not all planets have rain-that is, in water. Some had other dangerous compounds falling from the sky, some nothing at all. There was a certain planet that rained what you earthlings call diamonds."

Bulma listened intently. The saiyan prince was very knowledgeable, it seemed that one should not judge a book by it's cover. Many times she had repeated this phrase in her mind, but Bulma Briefs never really understood it's meaning till now.

Outside a mass murder, inside a teddy-bear book nerd. What were the odds?

**Lol, this isn't really a 'question' chapter. I ran out of ideas, but didn't want to leave this un-updated for too long, so I came up with this. Ideas, anyone? Heh, who wants to see Yamcha and Bulma break up?**

**BTW, the 'not-snowing-in-this-area' was just for the purpose of this fic, cuz I forgot to include snow in the Christmas portion.**


	12. Chapter 12

**New Year's Eve! Yay!**

"HAPPY NEW YEAR'S EVE, VEGETA!"

The saiyan prince fell of his chair and blinked at the blue-haired heiress, who was standing over him with a lopsided grin on her face.

"What is wrong with you, woman?!"

"It's New Year's Eve, Vegeta! Get excited!" She threw up a bit of confetti over the saiyan's head, and laughed as he tried to brush it out of his spikey hair.

"What is this, 'new year's eve' thing?!"

"It's to celebrate the eve of a new year," Bulma proclaimed, twirling around in her purple cocktail dress, "normally I would throw a huge party, but this year we decided to just have a simple dinner with the gang."

"I know what new year's eve means," Vegeta grumbled, "the name does enough explanation on it's own. But why would you celebrate this stupid day?! How is it different from any other day in the year?"

"Well, it's the last day of the year, and tomorrow is a fresh start. I guess it's not really that different, but it's fun."

"Meaningless Earth Holidays," Vegeta frowned.

"Come on, don't be a downer," Bulma pranced around Vegeta, throwing more confetti over him, "come do something with me!"

Vegeta opened his mouth to protest, but Bulma grabbed his arm and started to pull him out the door-the both of them knew that if the saiyan really resisted, Bulma would never be able to move him, but today Vegeta decided to humor her and follow. They skipped (well, Bulma did) out to the garden where her mother was setting up the tables and decorations with the help of a few AI (artificial intelligence) droids.

Bulma snagged a garish bright pink balloon and tied one around her wrist, much to Vegeta's amusement, until she grabbed another balloon of the same colour and proceeded towards Vegeta.

His eyes widened and he knew what was coming. "Oh no, woman," he warned, and Bulma stuck his tongue out.

He dodged as the woman lunged for him, and Bulma swerved and tackled Vegeta. He wriggled out of Bulma's grasp and jumped over her head, deliberately showing off, and Bulma smiled as she changed direction. Bunny briefs watched (ah, young love, she thought) Vegeta grinned and pounced on the heiress, taking on the offensive.

Bulma let out a squeak as she fell backwards, and was steadied by a large arm around her waist. Vegeta snapped at her playfully before dropping Bulma-in a large puddle of mud.

"Ugh! VEGETA!"

Yamcha arrived just in time to see his girlfriend emerging from the grass, covered in dead leaves and mud, pointing accusingly at Vegeta who was laughing-laughing?!-at a distance.

"B, what happened?!"

"Ah! Vegeta happened, that's what!" She glared at the offending Saiyan, who was chuckling so hard he had to lean against a tree for support.

"I'm going to change," she pouted, "And I really liked this dress, too."

By the time Bulma emerged, the Son family, and Piccolo, had already arrived. Vegeta was back to his normal grumpy self. "Hey guys!"

Goku scooped Bulma up in a large bear hug, (no one saw the heated glare Vegeta shot at the Earth saiyan) and then the two women proceeded to hug and gossip. Chi Chi sighed, shooting the saiyan prince a wary glance, "he isn't causing you any trouble, is he? I could always get Goku to get rid of him if you want."

Vegeta stiffened, hearing the harpy, and he glanced subtlety over at Bulma to see her reaction. The heiress gave a small smile-she felt hurt for some reason at the accusation, and sort of angry, but she knew Chi Chi was trying to help. "Oh no, he's fine, Chi. Le's not talk about him."

Raising an eyebrow suggestively, the bluette elbowed the housewife, "let's talk about you and Goku. Have you been getting any.. action since he came back?"

"Really Bulma," Chi Chi blushed red, before leaning in to whisper (making sure her son was out of earshot-at the pond playing with Piccolo), "I have to admit, for a guy who didn't know about the different genders when he was twelve... I am a very, very satisfied woman."

From the bench a few metres away, Goku picked up his wife's comment, and sent her a wolfish grin.

The two women giggled. "This saiyan hearing thing is kind of annoying, isn't it," Bulma sighed dramatically, "how ever would we share our secrets?"

At this point, Krillin dropped in with his capsule jet, along with Master Roshi, Oolong and Turtle. "Hey guys!"

"Krillin!" Bulma waved, "come to join the party."

"Oh I will," the old man from behind grinned peevishly, " hello LADIES! You've been growing... well," he licked his lips. Bulma and Chi Chi shared a glance before punching the turtle hermit on either side of his face, breaking his sunglasses and making him fall over.

Tien and Chiaotzu, the former carrying Lunch, currently the purple haired good natured self, flew in.

Bulma greeted them as a good hostess should, and glanced over at Vegeta who had stayed silent throughout.

**I shall not describe further the eating sequence, as you may already have known-it is insane.**

"Come on guys, time for New Year's resolutions!" Bulma cheered. The gang gathered around.

"What are yours, Gohan?" Krillin prompted.

"To... be a scholar, and study well," Gohan announced, looking over at his mother, who nodded approvingly. Everyone laughed-Gohan was a fighter, but Chi Chi was going to turn him into a nerd. Not that it wasn't a bad idea-another Goku in the team would be... well... let's just say Goku wasn't too... bright sometimes.

"How about yours, Krillin?"

"To, uh... getatallgirlfriend," he shot out.

"Vegeta, come over, we're making New Year's Resolutions!" Bulma called out. Yamcha frowned slightly.

"What the hell are those?!" Vegeta walked over and sat down on the grass behind Bulma, carrying a bowl of eggrolls.

"New Year's Resolutions are goals we set for ourselves to achieve in the following year," Bulma explained, reaching over to grab an eggroll from Vegeta's plate. Everyone stiffened, waiting for the Saiyan Prince's reaction-everyone knew how saiyans acted with their food, but to the gang's surprise (except Yamcha, who was disappointed and just nodded knowing the strange accommodating tolerance that Vegeta had with his girlfriend) Vegeta did nothing.

"What are yours?"

Vegeta swallowed before speaking, another trait that classified him from a different class above Goku, before replying, "becoming a super saiyan and defeating Kakarot."

Bulma had recited his little speech mentally with him.

Goku laughed and scratched the back of his head, "sure Vegeta! Hey, wanna spar?"

As soon as the words left his mouth, everyone exchanged a knowing glance.

"Don't destroy the yard," Bulma sighed, as the duo started exchanging superspeed punches and kicks.

"What's with you and Vegeta," Chi Chi demanded, and Bulma just shrugged.

**Please leave a review!**


	13. Chapter 13

**OMG. Has it really been that long since my last update? Shit guys, I'm so sorry. Screw that, I cooked one up for you! It's not really a question again.**

Vegeta stood in tense silence, his mind running through calculations and and possible scenarios in which could occur, and finding theoretical ways in which he could deal with them (which mostly involved lighting up a ki blast or jumping out the window in a desperate escape attempt) and taking a deep breath, he slowly took a step forward, and lightly pushed the door open.

"Woman?"

There was no response for a short while, only sighs from the darkness, and Vegeta could see how the small lamp illuminated the woman's figure, which was hunched over her messy desk lacklusterly, and he could see the reflection of the bottle she was clutching in her hand - alcohol, he supposed from the smell.

"Vegeta? What are you doing here?"

He didn't reply, and his eyes subconsciously shifted to the shut double-glass window that was on the wall just above her desk, blinds covering it and letting in hardly enough light to make out her features.

"Vegeta?"

He took a deep breath, but didn't say a word, and Bulma pursed her lips, filling in her own reason for his presence, "thanks for coming to check on me, you know. I'm fine."

He almost growled aloud, Vegeta derated himself for being so transparent in front of the woman, and he took a few steps forward to look over her head, and could see Yamcha and her in a picture frame just smiling at the camera, he supposed it was dated a few years back as she looked far younger and less mature.

Bulma looked up and followed the general direction of his gaze - it was far too dark to tell exactly what he was looking at - and her eyes landed on the poorly taken photograph by the sloppy phone camera from when she was seventeen and sexy - still was, she chuckled inwardly - that she had displayed on her desk, Bulma smiled almost longingly and she cocked her head to look at the Prince's unreadable expression, "we decided it wasn't working out."

"Is that why you're walking in the darkness, sobbing over your lost relationship?" He remarked almost snidely, and cast a disgusted look at the photograph, Bulma opened his mouth to reply but he cut her off, "he's not worth your time," he snapped, too angry, and Bulma could have sworn it was a compliment.

"Vegeta," she sighed, "I'm not crying over him."

"Bullshit," the saiyan snapped and he reached over to flick on the lights, before Bulma could stop him.

"NO!"

The heiress slumped disappointedly over her desk, and Vegeta could see the other miscellaneous items that were scattered haphazardly around, and she sighed, "and I was just going to finish, too."

"I wasn't wallowing in my sorrow, if anything Yamcha should," she snorted, "I was working on a project that needed to be kept in the dark," Bulma shook her messy blue curls out of her hair, "but someone ruined it, so I have to restart."

There was a pause, as Vegeta's brain worked to catch up, and… "what?"

Bulma giggled at his face, a confused adorable pout, and she flipped her hair, "you know, I can't stay mad at you," not with your adorable expression, she wanted to add, "and besides, it was nice of you to come check up on me, thanks," she grinned up at him, "I appreciate it."

Vegeta felt a blush creep up to his cheeks, and he shook it away with a muttered "whatever" and stalked off, leaving the heiress to her thoughts.


	14. Chapter 14

_What... what was she WEARING?_

Bulma noticed his stare and turned to face Vegeta, who was looking at the heiress, wide eyed.

"Vegeta! Nice to see that you have gotten your sweaty ass out of your GR. Come, tell me-which looks better?"

She was in a red halter-neck, two piece bikini that accentuated her curves perfectly and perked up her breasts, and her hair was bunched up in a messy ponytail. Bulma held out another studded, yellow two-piece in her other hand, and was staring at Vegeta inquisitively. "Which do you think looks better on me?"

Vegeta gulped thickly, his gaze trailing from her face and then down her neck to - oh. Oh god. Oh, dear kami.

She didn't seem to mind his lack of answer. "Well, I think the red one suits me better. Besides, they make my boobs look awesome."

_Oh, don't they_, Vegeta felt his face heat up.

"Hey, why don't you join me? You look a little hot. Relax a while, go to the beach with me!"

The saiyan didn't know if he managed to nod - his body didn't seem to cooperate with him at that moment, but it seemed that he did, (either that of Bulma didn't care about his protests), when the heiress ran up and came down in a bright sundress and a pair of swimming trunks, "Mum picked this out for you when she was at the store. She picked out a lot of other things, too, but I doubt you've seen them," and she threw them in a tote.

"Come on!"

Vegeta begrudgingly trudged on, unable to use his excuse of needing food, "I got the bots to pack enough for both of us," Bulma reassured, set on her beach day.

They climbed into her mini-hover jet.

"Don't you have a private beach?" Vegeta asked.

She nodded, then shrugged, "the experience isn't the same," Bulma answered.

...

"Woman, I don't think this is appropriate."

"Oh come on Vegeta, it's fine. You aren't wearing any less than you usually do, anyways," Bulma knocked on the other side of the changing room door, and it slowly opened to reveal a grumpy, bashful Vegeta. His swimming trunks hung low on his hips, showing off his muscled abs and impressive torso.

"It's not so bad," Bulma grinned, her sundress had been abandoned and the heiress was back in her bikini. Vegeta averted his eyes.

Bulma linked arms with the saiyan and walked him to their beach towels, beaming when he didn't attempt to pull away, "after you put on sunscreen, you can do whatever you want," then, "trust me, it's better than it smells, sunburn's a real bitch."

"What's... sunburn?"

"You've never gotten sunburn before?"

Vegeta shook his head.

"Woah! Is that a saiyan thing?"

The saiyan prince shrugged, "we were primarily a desert-dwelling race, and had our homes built in the open at the mercy of Vegetasei's two suns."

Bulma gasped in amazement, her fingers brushed Vegeta's skin, "that's amazing, and two suns? No wonder you can stand heat so well. Goku never had any problem when it was hot, either."

Vegeta snorted. "He's hardly saiyan."

"Yes," Bulma let her voice trail of softly, and Vegeta noticed her eyes were no longer on him. He followed Bulma's gaze over to a group of people playing volleyball, and... oh.

Yamcha laughed as he served the ball over the net, gently, and a blonde in a very revealing bikini bumped it over to her teammate. The teams were a mix of guys and girls, but Yamcha's attention seemed mainly directed to the females.

Vegeta growled, and Bulma shivered when she felt his body tense next to hers, and his ki rose in warning.

"I'm over him," Bulma announced, "that's why I'm here, to enjoy the single life with my hot companion," she linked arms with the saiyan and sniffed, " besides, it's his loss."

Yamcha felt a familiar spike in ki and turned over, his eyes widened in shock to see his girlfriend - well, ex-girlfriend's arms entwined with a certain saiyan.

He ignored the disappointed cries of those watching and jogged over, "Hey Bulma, Vegeta," he pulled his lips into a forced smile.

"Hi Yamcha," Bulma subconsciously pulled Vegeta closer, much to the obvious displeasure of the ex-bandit, and he tensed.

"I'm surprised to see you here, Vegeta," he shot out, "don't you have training to do?"

"I could say the same as of you, weakling," Vegtea returned, "your power level is lower than before."

Yamcha frowned, and Bulma stepped up, "woah boys, no fighting. not here."

Both of them calmed visibly, and Bulma fell back into position next to Vegeta - it seems so natural, Yamcha thought, "Nice speaking with you," he said, stiffly, and went back to the game. Bulma sighed.

"I thought you were over him," Vegeta frowned, and she nodded.

"I am, but you see, it's hard to find a guy that likes me, you know. As in me-me. Not just for my money, or my looks... those can go away, and so will that guy."

"It is stupid to base a relationship on temporary, superficial things," he nodded, "but it's common here. Is that some human thing?"

"Unfortunately," she sighed again, "for some, yes."

Vegeta frowned.

"Why?"

"I don't know," Bulma sighed.

Vegeta pouted. "You're human. If you don't know about human relationships, who else would?"

Bulma laughed.

Vegeta reminded her of a curious child, incessantly asking questions about what he didn't understand. It was adorable, really.

The saiyan in question cocked his head to stare at her quizzically, which made her giggle - _he could be so cute sometimes without realizing it! _Yamcha frowned and turned sharply when he heard his ex's bubbly laughter, and gritted his teeth when he saw her giggling all over Vegeta, who didn't seem to mind. A volleyball on the head turned half his attention back to the game.

"Life's that way sometimes," Bulma sighed dramatically, "all the drama makes me confused sometimes." Something diverted her attention, however, and the heiress squealed, "'Geta, want some ice cream?"

Vegeta blinked, when she didn't wait for his reply and started to drag him away.

_What's... Ice cream?_


	15. Chapter 15

She handed him a cone full of something white and creamy and cold. Vegeta stared at it, eyebrow cocked.

"I got you vanilla 'cuz I'm not sure which flavor you like... I have strawberry," Bulma licked the creamy blob with her tongue and smacked her lips. The saiyan raised an eyebrow, unsure, but followed her actions and...

oh, it tasted good... and creamy... and cold...

"You like it?"

He answered her by swallowing the rest of the cone.

The heiress grinned and took another lick of her strawberry, "good, I'll stock up at home, then."

Vegeta eyed the pink scoop of ice cream that sat on top of the cone that Bulma had in her hands. She caught his gaze.

"Do you want a taste?"

He nodded slightly and reached over, his mouth slightly open (Bulma's eyes widened as she watched his tongue drag over his canines and his pouty lips purse together)... and he ate Bulma's entire cone.

The blue haired woman stared, for a few long moments, at the tiny, one forth of her original cone that lay in the end.

"I hardly got a taste!"

The saiyan smirked.

"I said, 'have a taste', not 'have all my ice cream! I-"

Vegeta silenced her with a quick kiss.

Bulma's eyes widened, she gasped and her mouth dropped open, she gazed into the saiyan's unreadable onyx eyes as he pulled back. Vegeta watched the scientist for a reaction. Did he do something wrong? Did she not like it? He almost frowned, willing her to say something, anything, even if it was to yell, but Bulma just stared - oh shit I ruined it, Vegeta screamed inwardly, oh damn, I thought I planned it right... didn't she like it? Oh Kami...

"Wh-what?"

"You said you wanted a taste," Vegeta smirked, Bulma blinked, overcoming her shock, and murmured something intelligible.

"Hn? What?" Vegeta leaned forward. He didn't catch her words.

"I... didn't get a good enough taste." Bulma blushed heavily.

The saiyan smirked triumphantly, catching her advances, and captured her lips again. Vegeta pressed deeper - (he was begging her inwardly to respond), and his heart exploded when he felt Bulma kiss back. He smirked against her lips and pulled her closer, when he felt the weakling's ki spark in outrage. It appeared they have been caught.

They pulled back, both panting, red.

"You..."

Vegeta raised an eyebrow.

Bulma grinned stupidly, blushing crimson, like when she was a teenager who had just gotten her first kiss. "You taste like strawberry."

The saiyan grinned back.


	16. Chapter 16

"Bulma!"

Yamcha stormed over, but halted when he saw the ready-to-kill look on the saiyan's face. Apparently he had interrupted a moment.

"Yamcha... hey," Bulma blushed heavily, holding an empty ice cream cone in her hand. Vegeta, ignoring the human, reached over and took it. He popped it in his mouth.

The blue-haired heiress grinned stupidly, crimson, leaning on the saiyan, who finished off the ice cream cone in two bites.

"Did... did you two just kiss?!"

Bulma nodded. She went to take a bite of the ice cream cone, but missed at the air. Bulma glared at the saiyan. "You stole my ice cream! Again!"

"Do you want another taste?" Vegeta shrugged, flashing the flustered Yamcha a triumphant look, as Bulma flushed deeper.

"Actually," Bulma took a deep breath, "I do."

To Vegeta's disappointment and Yamcha's relief, Bulma moved away from the alien prince and bounded over to the ice cream man.

Yamcha waited till she was out of earshot before whirling to meet Vegeta's unreadable gaze, "I want you to stop messing around with her. Don't break her heart."

He heard a feral growl and took a cautionary step back, as Vegeta bared his fangs, "I find it amusing that you assume I'm 'messing with her', as you so put it," he snarled in a way that told a frightened Yamcha that the saiyan was, in fact, not amused.

The pieces clicked in his head. _Did Vegeta just say-_

"Hey guys!" Bulma balanced three cones on her hands and bounded over to the duo. "I got you chocolate this time, Vegeta." She handed the saiyan his cone, extra large, as Yamcha took his favorite Caramel. Bulma had another Strawberry.

"So, what were you guys talking about?"

Yamcha opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came to mind, (the real topic of conversation was not to revealed to Bulma) but Vegeta beat him to the chase, "training," he scoffed haughtily, "apparently whatever your weakling training schedule is, it isn't working."

Yamcha bristled at that comment, but admired Vegeta's quick wit.

_Damn. Arrogant, smart, determined, stubborn... he really matches Bulma._

"Hey, just because everyone doesn't strive to kill themselves every time they train, like a certain pompous jackass I know, it doesn't mean they aren't working hard! I'm sure you're getting a lot stronger, Yamcha," she grinned at her ex.

Yamcha smiled weakly. Okay, maybe he hadn't been training much. But still! He needed his rest and had a career to keep up with!

"I'm gonna go for sit in the shade for a while. You boys coming?"

Yamcha and Vegeta exchanged a look, and to the ex-bandit's surprise, the latter followed her.


	17. Chapter 17

Vegeta laid in the shade, his head in Bulma's lap, gently snoozing, as the latter ran fingers through dark hair. The strands were thick and feathery to the touch, Bulma found, and she grinned at Yamcha who looked over, bewildered.

"Is he... purring?" He asked, a confused expression on his face, as he heard a soft rumbling sound from Vegeta's vibrating chest. Bulma giggled, "looks like," and continued to brush his hair with her fingers.

The ex-bandit blinked. Here he was, standing in front of his ex-girlfriend, who was in nothing but a swimsuit, cuddling with his murderer on the beach.

Wordlessly he handed the blue-haired woman a drink, and took a sip from his can, settling down Vegeta's unopened Sprite at the foot of the tree. Bulma popped the tab on her's with one hand, the other moved to scratch the snoozing saiyan by the ear.

Yamcha blinked again. He just left for ten minutes, to get them some drinks. Ten. Minutes!

Ten minutes ago Bulma was smearing on some sunscreen, while the saiyan was grumbling training (or the lack of it), when he left, and ten minutes later Vegeta was sleeping and using Bulma as a pillow, the rest of him curled up at her side as he dozed.

"He must be exhausted," she quipped, and Yamcha was snapped out of his trance.

"He has really started to train a whole lot more vigorously now," it seemed Bulma was talking to herself, "he locked himself in the GR for three days then. It took him forever to come out, and then I practically forced him to come relax a day," she smiled almost wistfully, looking at the saiyan adoringly, "he works too hard."

The scarred-face human felt a pang of jealously. _Did she ever look at me like that?_

"Well," she sighed, "I'm starting to sound like my mother. Next thing you know I'll be baking cookies and planting flowers and telling myself that 'young and handsome Mr. Vegeta is husband material'..."

"She says that?"

Bulma glanced up. "Yea... quite often actually."

Yamcha frowned. He never heard Mrs Briefs say that.

He looked down again, at Bulma. Still stroking Vegeta's hair.

"Do... do you think he is?"

"Wha-?"

"Husband material." Yamcha hesitated, "do you think Vegeta could be..."

There was a long pause. "Yes."

Bulma shook her messy blue hair. "Vegeta... I'm sure he can show love. He's not all bad as we make him out to be. He's like a teddy bear in armor..."

"...he just hasn't found the right person yet." Bulma's gaze dropped sadly.

Yamcha's heart broke. _Maybe..._

He looked over at Bulma, smiling tenderly at the sleeping saiyan.

_Maybe..._ Yamcha sighed in defeat, _maybe he has._


End file.
